Some founders deliberately work to strengthen their entire industry rather than only their own position within it, on the reasoning that a larger, healthier, better-regulated market benefits every participant including themselves. In specialty coffee, that has meant transparency about sourcing, fair remuneration for farmers and raising consumer understanding of quality, none of which are exclusive advantages but all of which grow the market.
This approach runs against the instinct to guard every advantage, but in categories where the constraint is market size or consumer understanding rather than competition for existing customers, growing the category is frequently the higher-return strategy.
Growing the category can beat competing for existing share
Where a market is small relative to its potential, the constraint is customers who have not yet entered the category rather than customers choosing a competitor, which makes effort spent educating the market more valuable than effort spent winning share from rivals.
Supply chain fairness protects long-term supply
Ensuring producers are remunerated fairly is a practical supply-chain decision as much as an ethical one, since a supply base that cannot sustain itself economically eventually cannot supply anyone, making fair pricing a protection of the business’s own future inputs.
Independent certification makes claims credible
Third-party grading and certification bodies give sourcing and quality claims a credibility that self-reported assurances cannot, which matters increasingly as customers become more sceptical of unverified ethical marketing.
Educating consumers raises what the whole market will pay
Customers who understand why quality differs are willing to pay for that difference, which lifts pricing across a category rather than only for the business doing the educating, and remains commercially rational because a business with genuine quality benefits most from customers able to recognise it.
Frequently asked questions
Why would a business want its competitors to succeed?
Because in categories constrained by market size or limited consumer understanding, growing the whole category delivers more than competing for existing share, and a larger healthy market benefits every participant.
Is paying producers fairly purely an ethical decision?
It is also a practical supply-chain one, since a supply base that cannot sustain itself economically eventually cannot supply anyone, making fair pricing a protection of the business’s own future inputs.
Why does independent certification matter for sourcing claims?
Because third-party verification gives claims credibility that self-reported assurances cannot, which matters increasingly as customers grow more sceptical of unverified ethical marketing.
How does educating consumers benefit the business doing it?
Customers who understand why quality differs are willing to pay for it, which lifts pricing across the category, and a business with genuine quality benefits most from customers able to recognise the difference.
When is this category-growing approach the wrong strategy?
In a mature, saturated market where the constraint is competition for existing customers rather than limited category awareness, in which case effort is better directed at differentiation than at market education.
Further reading
Originally published in November 2017. Updated September 2026 and rewritten in house voice, expanding the original interview into the category-growth strategy behind it.
